What's New in STEP 7, Version 5.5?

The following subject areas have been updated:

Operating systems
As of STEP 7 V5.5, the operating systems MS Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise (standard installation) are supported.

Configuring and Diagnosing Hardware

As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can create I-devices from numerous IO controllers. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can use the PROFINET shared device function. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can assign the IP addresses and device names dynamically. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can configure media redundancy for multiple domains. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can you can configure the isochronous mode for IO devices. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can install hardware updates directly from the "Windows Start menu". As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can manage user rights for the Web server. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can access Web pages of the CPU via a secure HTTPS connection. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can configure keepalive times for TCP connections. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can download I&M data for more than one module at the same time (using multiselection).

Configuration Changes during Ongoing Operation (CiR)

The restrictions in STEP 7 versions up to and including V5.4 regarding hardware configuration in RUN (CiR) for PROFIBUS when upgrading the STEP version no longer apply in V5.5.

Standard Libraries
As of STEP 7 V5.5, the system functions have been expanded by the addition of SFB104 "IP_CONF" for program-controlled configuration of the integrated PROFINET interface of your CPU. As of STEP 7 V5.5, the system functions have been expanded by the addition of SFC99 "WWW" for enabling or synchronizing user Web pages. As of STEP 7 V5.5, the system functions have been expanded by the addition of SFB73 "RCVREC" for receiving data records and SFB74 "PRVREC" for making data records available on an I-device. These SFBs are only valid for S7-300 CPUs. As of STEP 7 V5.5, the system status list with SSL-ID W#16#xy9C has been expanded. This provides information on the configured tool changer and its tools. As of STEP 7 V5.5, the following FBs of S7 communication are included: FB28 "USEND_E", FB29 "URCV_E", FB34 "GET_E", FB35 "PUT_E". These are only for S7-300 CPUs and only on connections via the integrated PN interface.

As of STEP 7 V5.5, the following two FBs for open communication via Industrial Ethernet have new names: FB 210 (previous name: "S5FW_TCP") is now called "FW_TCP", FB 220 (previous name: "S5FW_IOT") is now called "FW_IOT".

Report System Error

As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can choose whether or not the status of slaves is evaluated when the CPU starts up. As of STEP 7 V5.5, the additional texts of messages are displayed or implemented in the "Message Preview", "Print" and "Print Preview" dialogs. As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can also download blocks generated by 'Report System Error' in HW Config

System diagnostics
As of STEP 7 V5.5, there are two "Diagnostics in Hexadecimal Format" dialogs: one for PROFIBUS slaves and one for PROFINET devices.

Setting the PG/PC Interface

As of STEP 7 V5.5, you can use the USB prommer without needing to install additional software. The required functionality is integrated in STEP 7.